Still playing for a share of the Big 10 regular season championship, Michigan leads Illinois, 35-27, at the half Thursday night at Assembly Hall in Champaign.
Illinois (17-12, 6-10) is fighting for its tournament lives, though their chances of earning an at-large bid at this point are slim. Brandon Paul leads the Illini with 10 first-half points.
Trey Burke leads Michigan with 14 points, while Tim Hardaway, Jr. has nine points. Burke also notched two assists, tying the freshman-assist record at Michigan with his 140th assist. Via the official Twitter account of Michigan basketball:
Trey Burke has tied Gary Grant for the U-M freshman assist record -- 140 in 1984-85.#GoBlue
— Michigan Basketball (@umichbball) March 2, 2012
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